Local radio reaches new heights

Last week, Benks, now vice-president of WKPS-FM (90.7), fought another battle -- a battle against time. When he returned Jan. 6, he was greeted by a beanstalk that had grown out of control.

When WKPS first aired, it was running on approximately $10,000, which, Benks said, is the bare minimum for a radio station. In September, however, the Student Organization Budget Committee granted WKPS' request for a $50,000 budget for 1997.

"We hung up the phone and just went nuts," Benks said, referring to when he and Ecker, the station's president, received the news. "We went home, popped open the champagne, lit the cigars and celebrated."

But Benks had no time to party last week. Ready or not, WKPS had to go back on the air yesterday, but as of last Wednesday, not one component of the newly purchased technology was in place.

The only people there to do the job -- essentially rebuilding the studios from scratch -- were Benks and Bob Dobson, an electrical engineer from Philadelphia. These two diehards were faced with the challenge of building the new WKPS -- by yesterday.

Let's backtrack a little, and go through the metamorphosis as Ed did -- day by day.

Wednesday, Jan. 8

noon

Having been in the studio since about 9 a.m., Ed needs a break and I serve as an excuse to take one. He ushers me into the station office, where I saunter through the debris to take a seat on the couch. The office usually has some stereo equipment hooked up, so it is a good place to chill out and listen to music. As we shoot the breeze, Ed wants to play me a record. Unfortunately, with everything as chaotic as it is, the turntable isn't hooked up properly. Ed tinkers around with it for a while, and, just at the peak of his frustration, the phone rings.

"Hello, WKPS. Yeah. Yeah. YEAH?!! OH, YEAH!!! Thanks a lot! Bye."

Bob, who has just wandered into the room, stares at Ed with a thought bubble containing a giant question mark popping out of his head.

"I got an internship with WRSC," says Ed.

I guess the frustration of running one of the most top-notch college radio stations in the country occasionally pays off.

3 p.m.

Bob is working alone in the recording studio.

"I'm the guy that originally put this place all together," he says. Bob designed the facility and conducted its construction, all the way down to the studio walls and custom-designed furniture, which the Office of Physical Plant built.

"I knew all the secrets of the place," he says. That's why he's back.

Bob is staying with Ed and will remain in town until the station is up and running and everyone is comfortable with the new equipment.

- Bob Dobson, electrical engineer

Right now he is working on a patch panel which, according to Bob, connects the actual stereo equipment to the broadcasting signals.

"You can basically rearrange the studio by plugging in a couple of wires," Bob says.

Bob pulls a series of cables out from under the console.

"Putting in one cable can take a half hour or so," he says.

I ask him how many he has to do in this project.

"About 120."

5:45 p.m.

Ed and Bob are doing on-air checks and running through new equipment they've received. They're frustrated because they have spent most of the day trying to purge all the bugs from the Emergency Action System signal, and it still isn't working.

Also to their dismay, they have learned that some of the new equipment won't arrive until Monday, after the station is already on the air.

"Can you work in the studio when it's live?" Ed asks Bob. "You won't get zapped?"

Bob grins.

11 p.m.

Five days before classes start, Ed Benks is looking for some serious stress relief. Bob and some friends were going to Tony's Big Easy, 129½ S. Pugh St., Benks said, noting that he'd heard it was a relaxing place to go and take a load off.

But it isn't long before Ed breaks out his diagrams and starts going over what they accomplished today and setting goals for tomorrow. The EAS system was a major roadblock today.

"There was nothing we could do about it," he says.

Both Ed and Bob, however, remain intrepid about the project, saying there is no question that they will be on the air Monday at 7 a.m. The production/recording studio won't be ready until later in the week, but the broadcast booth will transmit no matter what they have to do.

"When this is done -- all this work -- it's going to be so amazing," Ed says.

But Ed knows the work itself is a part of what makes it so amazing. If all of this had been handed to him on a silver platter, it wouldn't mean nearly as much. This is something he and his co-workers have earned.

"The station is an obsession for me and Jeff (Ecker). I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have WKPS."

Thursday

7:00 p.m.

The WKPS broadcast studio looks like a bomb hit it.

Ed and Bob are backtracking a little because pieces of equipment have been going "a little haywire."

"You've got to go through it all piece by piece, 'cause it's a lot easier to fix now than to try to figure out what's going on later," Bob says.

Ed is taking the newer components, which can be distinguished by their digital screens as opposed to the dials on the other pieces, and hooking them up.

"Now that we're starting the production room, we're kind of getting a second wind," Ed said. "When you see the finished product coming together, it's easy to forget you've been here for eight hours."

But amid Ed's reflections on how everything is starting to gel, a tape player starts causing problems. The two of them sigh.

"All right," Ed says. "Let's pop her open. There's something fun around every corner."

Friday

Most of the big jobs are done. The place can still barely be walked through, but a Monday broadcast, Ed says, is assured.

He's spent much of today getting back to regular WKPS office work, such as planning new projects with the underwriting director.

Sunday

5:30 p.m.

Many little problems have been solved as the project enters its final stage and the work gets down to the wire.

It's official that the recording studio won't get off the ground until Wednesday or Thursday, so news and promotion announcements will be strung together for a few days. All news will be from wire services, and promotion won't happen much, Ed says.

As messy as the broadcast booth still is, the show will go on. Right now they're putting the finishing touches on, adding a new unit for what is called a "dump" feature to the studio. This creates a seven-second delay between what is said in the studio and what is actually broadcast. If a studio occupant, caller or song being played lets a profanity get through, the DJ would have seven seconds to hit a button that would "dump" it and go live.

Monday

6:55 a.m.

This is it. Jeff Ecker is here, preparing for the morning program. Two other DJs, Ryan and Craig, are ready to go in the studio. The chaotic mess has metamorphosed overnight into a place of professional programming.

Bob is also here, but he's switched to supervisor mode, making sure things go smoothly.

"All right, we've gotta sign on -- is the transmitter on?" Jeff asks.

Confused, Jeff scans the room to get his bearings.

"Why aren't we on air?" somebody yells.

There is a long, tense pause in activity.

"It ain't working, hoss," Jeff says to Bob. Finally, unable to get the dump feature to work, the station goes live.

The "Coffee and Cigarettes" show takes off. And while the three staffers chat on the air about their winter breaks, Bob springs into action to fix the dump unit.

After about 15 minutes, everything is straightened out. The DJs' conversation is interrupted by a strange whirring sound, and then it's all in order.

"We are no longer live," Jeff says, meaning the dump delay is working.

WKPS has entered a new era, though most of its listeners probably don't know it. But Jeff fixes that.

"Bob is here because we have new studios," he announces on the air, boasting of the new equipment like a child opening Christmas presents.

"I have not been this excited to sit behind the board since we first went on the air last October."